


i would choose to be with you

by isthepartyover



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series), Fantasy High
Genre: Bodyguard AU, Canon-Typical Violence, Fantasy AU, Kidnapping, M/M, fabian loses his eye, i dont describe it in gory detail but just a warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:20:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22262470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isthepartyover/pseuds/isthepartyover
Summary: Riz has been held for approximately two weeks and three days (although, he had only been able to keep track by the signs of light from the crack underneath the door of the room he was being held in, solid, unceasing brightness for day and a flickering warm for night, so who really knows) when they move him.He knows something's up when Dayne himself doesn't enter the room, just several armed guards dragging a trunk behind them, and for one awful, terrifying moment Riz thinks this is it, they were done trying (uselessly) to get a random for him or information from him and he was about to be killed.
Relationships: Riz Gukgak/Fabian Aramais Seacaster
Comments: 5
Kudos: 197





	i would choose to be with you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sajere1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sajere1/gifts).



> based on: https://riz-gukgak.tumblr.com/post/189127654610/if-you-wanna-talk-more-about-the-bodyguard-au

Riz has been held for approximately two weeks and three days (although, he had only been able to keep track by the signs of light from the crack underneath the door of the room he was being held in, solid, unceasing brightness for day and a flickering warm for night, so who really knows) when they move him.

He knows something's up when Dayne himself doesn't enter the room, just several armed guards dragging a trunk behind them, and for one awful, terrifying moment Riz thinks this is it, they were done trying (uselessly) to get a random for him or information from him and he was about to be killed.

But what really happens is the guards gag him with a rag that smells like Kristen's friend's apothecary, a rough, burlap bag is thrown over his head and many strong, large hands restrain him as he is untied from the chair he's been bound to, and re-tied up before being shoved somewhere cramped and stuffy.

_ Ah _ , Riz thinks.  _ The trunk _ .

And then he blacks out. 

***

Consciousness comes in flashes, brief, shattered bits and pieces.

Riz is aware that he remains in the trunk, the claustrophobic feeling of it and the stuffy air easy to recognize, even when mostly out of it.

When he finally hangs onto consciousness for more than a few scattered moments, the trunk is finally still, upright and leaned over from the feel of things.

Riz presses his ear against the lid, straining to hear any hint of voices, of people who could stop him from getting  _ out _ and back to Fabian’s side, biting back leftover nausea from whatever potion they’d used to knock him out.

There’s nothing that he can tell is nearby, and Riz nods to himself before ramming his shoulder into the lid, hoping to get it fully upright, but biting back a yelp as the trunk overbalances and sends the whole thing slamming to the ground.

Riz scrambles to press his ear to the side again, panic filling him for a bit as he listens, but calming when he doesn’t hear anything once more.

He stretches himself out next, feeling around for any give in the wood, any nooks or crannies he can hook his claws into and pull, dismantling the chest around him slowly and carefully, pausing at any sign of noise or movement until there’s a hole large enough for him to slip out, scraping his already bruised forearms and legs, ignoring the pain as he slips into the shadows, hoping that despite his pain making him slower, less agile, nobody would see him.

Riz takes the time to look around the room before he sneaks out, noting that it was a fancier room, decor somewhat familiar to him, but nothing realling ringing a bell, just confusion at where he had been brought, horror stories of goblin slave rings coming to mind as he slips out of the room.

He then finds himself in an oddly recognizable stretch of hallways, each corridor branching off more and more, none of them clearly leading down or out, and it’s so oddly familiar that he comes out of stealth to look around.

Riz recognizes his surroundings as Seacaster Castle only just before he registers the thundering of footsteps, instinctively hiding as his friends come charging from around the next corner.

Gorgug is in the lead, face pinched in anger, clearly about to Rage any second, Fig right at his heels, also baring her teeth.

Adaine takes the rear, head tilted as if listening closely to something, crystal ball held tightly in her arms.

“Adaine, where’s this fucker’s room again?” Fig asks, grabbing Gorgug’s elbow to stop him from continuing on.

“Hold on, something’s...odd.” Adaine replies, closing her eyes and concentrating, both of the others patiently waiting as she focuses for a long moment, before turning and facing where Riz was hiding, opening her eyes to meet his with a smile.

“What are you-” Gorgug starts, but falls silent when Riz steps out of his spot, holding up his hand a little sheepishly.

“Uh...hey, guys. Fancy...uh, fancy seeing you here?”

Everyone surrounds him at once, chatting animatedly over one another, asking him questions and making jokes, and Riz is more than a little confused, and everything hurts and he's exhausted and dizzy-

He feels a sudden sense of vertigo, causing him to be sick right there in the middle of the hallway, Adaine somehow getting everyone to step back in the nick of time.

"Oh, dear. We really need to get you to Kristen." Adaine says, pursing her lips before prestigititing the mess away.

Fig lights up at the suggestion, practically bouncing as she says, "Ooh, the duel's probably barely even started! Dude, this is going to be so  _ awesome _ !"

“Duel? What duel?” Riz asks, watching as Adaine sighs and rolls her eyes before starting down the hallway, Fig cackling as she skips to keep up with her.

“Hang on!” Gorgug says, two seconds before lifting Riz over his shoulder, longer legs catching up with the others in no time.

“Wha-Gorgug, put me down! What duel? What’s going on?” Riz yelps, kicking out a little, and Adaine sighs again.

“We’re bringing you to Kristen.” she says, decisively, and takes off down the nearby staircase, Fig grinning wildly and staring at her in a way that could only mean that they were using a Messaging spell on one another, holding a private conversation as Gorgug carried Riz down staircase after staircase, hallway after hallway.

They end up in the Arena, a place where Riz has spent hour after hour watching Fabian practice, watching him destroy dummy after dummy-

But this time, there’s more people besides himself and the Prince.

This time, Fabian stands strong and stiff against Dayne himself, both decked in their armor and both looking as if they were about three seconds from killing one another.

It makes Riz’s heart leap to his throat, his long-trained instinct to leap down inbetween them making him kick out against Gorgug, who grunts but does not let him go, making the panic filling him  _ worse _ because he was supposed to  _ protect _ , how could this  _ happen _ -

He sees Fabian jolt a little, sees his eyes glaze over for a second and his head tilt as if someone were speaking in his ear, and then jerk his head over to meet Riz’s eyes.

And it’s like-Riz can see it, see a change go over Fabian, see every bit of him relax as he sees Riz, sees the smile and determination bloom over his features as he nods at him, a quick jerk of his head, then turns back to Dayne.

It sends a little thrill through Riz, moreso when he speaks, in his loud, regal voice that seems to fill the arena. “Well. It seems we are now on uneven footing for this duel.”

“What do you mean?” Dayne growls, clearly uneasy, and Fabian smirks.

“Well, my reward for beating you was to be the location and safety of the Ball. But, as you can see,” he says, gesturing up to where Gorgug had finally set Riz down, leaning uneasily against the railing, “he seems to be just fine. But, we’re all here and ready, so how about we still fight? Without the hang ups of ‘rewards’ or ‘prizes’, hmm?”

Dayne is scowling now, a dangerous sort of look that makes Riz sick, makes him fearful for Fabian’s life, and if he wasn’t using all of his energy to keep upright, Riz would have darted to the pitch below as soon as he lunges at the prince.

The battle is brutal, both fighters almost evenly matched, both throwing all their weight and energy into their attacks-

But Fabian is just  _ slightly _ better, faster and lighter on his feet, dodging most of the swings of Dayne's greatsword with relative ease, a sly grin each and every time, and if Riz didn't already know he loved him, would do anything for him,  _ this _ would have sealed the deal, the glances Fabian kept making up at him in the stands as if to make sure he was still there making him melt like a maiden at a joust.

Of course, Dayne seems to also have noticed the lingering looks, the brief distraction, and takes his opportunity as soon as it becomes clear he's outmatched, that he's about to lose, he takes his gamble, waiting for one of those glances before swiping up.

Riz can't tell what his plan might have been, what he had intended to happen, but what actually did was that Dayne drew his sword upwards, and Fabian lurched back a fraction of a second too late.

Riz is distantly aware of himself screaming, of Gorgug gripping his shoulder so he doesn't climb over the low railing, too focused on all the  _ blood _ , all the red outright pouring down Fabian’s face, and there’s a flash of something white flying away from the scene, and Fabian makes a loud, wailing sort of noise, and tackles Dayne.

When the dust settles, Fabian is on top of him, sword directly across his opponent’s neck.

He says something, low enough not to be heard by anyone but Dayne, who nods as much as he’s able, suddenly pale, and Fabian nods back, standing up off of him and tthen stumbling, falling into the dirt clutching his right eye, where all the blood is, as Kristen runs out to meet him, her and another healer carrying him quickly away.

“C-come on.” Adaine stutters, clearly shaken as well, and Riz finally looks at his friends for the first time since the fight began to see them all looking various stages of horrified, Gorgug in particular looking as if he was going to be sick. “W-we should get you down to the Healer’s tent as well.”

***

It’s hectic in the tent.

Kristen’s friends dart about, grabbing herbs and poultices and crazy looking potions, and as soon as the group enters, a very frazzled looking Healer points them to an empty cot and tells the rest of the group to set Riz down and leave.

It’s a testament to how dire the situation seems to be that there’s only a minor protest from Fig, quieted as soon as Adaine grips her arm, Gorgug doing as asked and the three of them vanishing.

And now that he’s in the tent, Riz can hear shouting, two equally familiar voices yelling at one another somewhere he couldn’t see.

“YOU LOST AN  _ EYE _ , IDIOT-”

“YES, BUT THE BLEEDING  _ STOPPED _ ! GIMME AN EYEPATCH, IT’LL BE FINE, HE  _ NEEDS _ -”

“IT COULD GET  _ INFECTED _ , HE’S NOT _ INJURED _ ! LET ME  _ WORK _ , DAMMIT!”

“HAVE YOU  _ CHECKED _ ?!”

“NO, BUT-”

“THEN  _ GO _ ! I'M THE  _ PRINCE _ , YOU HAVE TO DO AS I SAY!”

There’s then the sound of stomping feet, of Kristen muttering to herself, and then she appears, glaring at Riz as she looks him up and down, then turns to one of the others in the room. “Give him one of the slimy orange ones and then send for a meal from the castle.”

“Y-yes ma’am!” the other healer squeaks, clattering around in a cabinet until they produce said liquid, holding it out to Riz, who grimaces but takes it, popping the cork and chugging it before he could get a whiff of whatever this potion was.

Kristen takes the bottle from him as soon as he drinks, throwing one of Riz’s arms around her shoulder and helping him up and to the back.

“Stupid princes and their stupid-I’ll kill him  _ myself _ , coming into  _ my  _ tent-”

“I think that’s  _ technically  _ treason, and I think I have the power to take you out for saying that.” Riz jokes, and Kristen looks at him and laughs.

“In the state you’re in? In your dreams.” she tells him, then pulls back a partition to show Fabian himself, a long, awful looking scar now branding the right side of his face, from forehead to the middle of his cheek.

Fabian’s scowl lasts just long enough to look up and see Kristen helping Riz over, settling him into a shitty chair by the bedside.

“Alrighty,  _ your highness _ , he’s here and fine, can you let me look at your fucking dumb eye long enough to make sure that shit doesn’t get infected now?” Kristen asks, and Fabian has the decency to look a little cowed, meekly letting her go about her business examining the wound for a bit before nodding and straightening back up.

“Alright, lemme make sure some food’s on its way for you crazy kids.” she announces, winking at Riz before leaving them alone.

It’s quiet, for a long moment, before Riz can’t stand it any longer and blurts out, “So. Uh. What was...what was the game here?”

Fabian makes an incredibly confused face, like Riz is suddenly speaking tounges, and Riz clarifes. “With this whole...duel thing. What did we get out of it? Because I’m expendable, and I can’t see the big picture here. What other thing happened that I missed?”

Fabian’s remaining eye had gone wide as Riz spoke, and he blinks at Riz for a long moment before shaking his head, first slowly, then quicker, suddenly indignant as he reaches out to hold Riz’s hand.

“You idiot. In what world are you expendable, the Ball?”

And that. Well. “Uh? In this one?”

Fabian shakes his head again, frown going sharper. “No? You may be my bodyguard, but you’re also my  _ friend _ , Riz. And I care about you. You’re not  _ expendable. _ ”

He says the word like he says the names of his enemies, and Riz is. Riz is  _ confused _ , and  _ exhausted _ , and he suddenly feels like crying at the absolutely tender look Fabian is suddenly giving him as he raises their hands and presses a kiss to Riz’s bruised knuckles.

It feels like something has changed, something important and forbidden, and Riz  _ wants _ , wants more than he thinks he’s ever deserved, more than he can ever hope to ask for-

They’re a breath apart when they hear a familiar explosion of noise that can only be the return of their friends, and spring apart.

And it’s enough, Riz thinks, watching Fabian from afar as Fig thumps him gently, as Adaine puts Boggy in lap with a wry look.

He’s good at keeping his distance. And it’s enough for him.

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEACH!!


End file.
